Cinefiles

Bacterium, The Gay Deceivers, Killing Spree

Bacterium (PG-13) Shock- O-Rama / POP Cinema Ultra-low-budget special effects master Brett Piper is at it again in his best film to date, the entertainingly ambitious Bacterium. A group of paintball players comes across an abandoned house in the middle of the woods, only to end up in the middle of some government bio- weapons cover-up, with a giant, amorphous, face- sucking blob (that asexually reproduces) chasing after. As the Army tries to eradicate all traces of the experiment, extreme measures have to be taken. Piper's crafted an old-fashioned monster flick, a tribute of sorts, with incredibly realistic stop-motion special effects that you just don't see anymore in most mainstream horror and sci-fi. These are detailed in a behind-the-scenes bonus documentary, which, considering Piper's involved, is a fun watch. Almost as much as Bacterium itself. Louis Fowler

The Gay Deceivers (R) Dark Sky Films Forty years before I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, the swingin' '60s groundbreaker The Gay Deceivers took on the issue of wacky faux-homosexual marriages, and handled it with more subtly and satirical humor than Adam Sandler could ever hope to. Future lawyer Danny and gigolo Elliot are petrified at the prospect of being sent to Vietnam, so when their draft cards come in, they pretend they like dudes. When the draft board threatens to investigate, the twosome moves into a gay community, and their old lives begin to unravel. Co-starring Michael Greer, one of Hollywood's first openly gay actors, The Gay Deceivers is definitely not politically correct, but is still a hilarious and ultimately important look at how things were, and how far we still have to come in accepting homosexuals. Nice try, Sandler. Louis Fowler

Killing Spree: Retro '80s Edition (NR) Camp Motion Pictures Sometimes, in a psycho film, you can just look at an actor and know that maybe, just maybe, the line between actor and real-life nutcase is heavily blurred. Such is the case of Killing Spree's Asbestos Felt, who, with his insane eyes and matted, crazed red hair, looks like the type of homeless lunatic that would stab you in your sleep and then paint the walls with your blood, Manson-style. Believe me, in a film like this, it works to his advantage. Portraying a paranoid schizophrenic whose jealousy is slowly causing his sanity to disappear, he's brilliant and shockingly horrific. Killing Spree is a study in madness that, even on its low budget, is a hundred times better than the serial-psycho thrillers Hollywood hits us with every year. Haunting and unnerving in every way, Killing Spree is a real gone trip. Louis Fowler